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Tal Schneider

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Merav Michaeli of the Labor Party confronts Itamar Ben Gvir of the racist Jewish Power party. "In the face of racism and incitement," Michaeli wrote on twitter in posting this photo, Sept. 21, 2022. Photo credit: Avshalom Sassooni

“Even Israeli kibbutzes these days is hosting Itamar Ben Gvir. He is invited to speak at the kibbutzim. Unbelievable,” says Tal Schneider of the Times of Israel. And Netanyahu’s possible return to prime minister in Israel is helped by the rise of Ben Gvir’s racist party, once banned in the Knesset.

American media and politicians underplay how rightwing Israel is in order to salute it as a robust democracy. The reality is that Israeli politicians are under “brutal” pressure from the right– and legislator Idit Silman stepped down from the coalition government this month because she was getting physically attacked and threatened on the street for her participation in a government that wasn’t vocal enough in its support for “Judea and Samaria,” biblical terms for the West Bank.

As Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett launches a charm offensive in Washington to show he is not Netanyahu– but will do nothing about Palestinian human rights–Joe Biden should go along with the charade so as to overcome his loss of international standing from Afghanistan and to keep Israel a bipartisan issue, leading Israel lobbyists urge the White House.